whats the law say

two web sites with the same name

[TerryG]

one month after a web site came on line some one else used the same name (per batem).
his is ".net" and ours is ".com"

[larryhatch]

Hello TerryG:

1) I'm sure you mean 'verbatim' rather than 'per batem'.
2) AFAIK, the law is silent on use of site names.
Let's say your site is bluewinky.com, and somebody registered bluewinky.net.
That's perfectly legitimate. Its up to you to register both domains if you want them.
I could register bluewinky.org if you or nobody else got there first.
3) Did the .net site copy your content? Now THAT is indeed an issue. -Larry

[sem4u]

Is your website name trademarked?

[TerryG]

Thanks Larry

1) I'm sure you mean 'verbatim' rather than 'per batem'.
>Yse, was in a hurry and "Po'ed"

2) AFAIK, the law is silent on use of site names.
>Humm, thought there was some kind of law on copying names.

3) Did the .net site copy your content? Now THAT is indeed an issue. -Larry
>no but they both deal with the same kind of products.

[TerryG]

sem4u

Is your website name trademarked?
>Dont know if my guy did or not but will find out today, I belive you might have something there .

[rocknbil]

If they don't take .net and .org, they can always take .tv, .name, etc etc . . .

Live and learn, if you're going to brand a domain by it's url, always get all of the variants.

[kaled]

If the domain name is your company name then, I think you can complain.

Apple recently managed to nick itunes.co.uk (or something like that) from someone who'd registered it years before Apple.

Kaled.

[JAB Creations]

One could argue that a competitor is attempting to use your name to sell their products. With SEO you could explain that you have worked hard to associate your domain name with your products and that the profits made by the cheap guy who scooped up the same domain but different extension were made by your efforts.

The defense to be argued against you is that you had the oppertunity to buy that domain but didn't. You could just counter that with the fact that you can buy the same domain with I think now dosens of various extensions.

I'm not surprised there aren't any laws, the congress seems more concerned about micromanging the US and creating legal leaks for corporate scumbags instead of serving it's role in country intended to be a republic.

Best of luck to you!

[tedster]

Because .com and .net are international top level domains, the issue would be what does ICANN say - more than any one country's laws or lack of them. Here's the place I'd look for more information:

Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policies [icann.org]

[trillianjedi]

Here's the place I'd look for more information

And if you need more - you need to talk to a lawyer. Please remember that WebmasterWorld is not the place for legal discussion.

TJ

[zeus]

you could not create/have a domain says BMW.net , so if it is trademarked you have no problem.